This Week in Art 1.8-1.14: Ai Weiwei & Hiroshi Sugimoto Proposing New Major Works for San Francisco

by Lindsey Davis|Jan 8, 2018

A rendering of the forthcoming Waterfront Plaza, the site where artists Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley, and Jorge Pardo have been invited to submit proposals for public art commissions. Courtesy of the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Today the San Francisco Arts Commission announced that eight artists, including Ai Weiwei and Hiroshi Sugimoto, have been selected to develop proposals for new major commissions at three sites on Treasure Island. The eight artists were chosen from 495 applicants, and will submit proposals for million- and multi-million-dollar installations for new plazas and parks in the works. The SFAC is anticipating that proposals will be submitted in the spring and placed on public view throughout San Francisco for comment and feedback before being voted on by the Treasure Island Development Authority.

Events & exhibitions

New York City

An exhibition of new work by Barry McGee opened last week at Cheim & Read where it will be on view through February 17. Comprised of everything from the artist’s San Francisco studio that “resonates” for him, the exhibition is both installation and scavenger hunt: McGee’s liquor bottle works, painted with portraits of their former owners, have been hidden away as a means of “incorporating unseen objects into an installation, where their energy is meant to be felt as a presence in the room.”

Tabaimo is opening her latest exhibition, Clue to Utsushi, at James Cohan on Saturday. On view through February 25, the exhibition will feature four works previously exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum in 2016 and a new work, Shinju Trail, created for this show.

And on Sunday, LaToya Ruby Frazier is opening her first solo exhibition at Gavin Brown. Featuring three of the artist’s recent bodies of work, Flint is Family, The Notion of Family, and A Pilgrimage to Noah Purifoy’s Desert Art Museum, the show will be up through February 25.

Los Angeles

Catherine Opie’s new exhibition at Regen Projects opens Friday, and will be on view through February 17. The Modernist will present the artist’s first film, a dystopic view of Los Angeles comprised of 800+ black and white images, alongside a selection of 33 photographs.

Toronto

OCAD University’s The Sunshine Eaters opens Wednesday. Described as a “multi-sensory exhibition,” the show investigates how artists look to natural elements for solutions to local and global crises, and features work by both Nick Cave and Brian Jungen. On view through April 15.

Lindsey Davis is Art21's former Digital Content Editor. In the past she's written for Artscope Magazine, Huffington Post, and Rooms Magazine among others. An advocate for art in the public space, she also runs the art-mapping nonprofit ArtAround.

It is fantastic to see numerous art exhibitions in different parts of the world and artist with great talent and unique styles, I look forward to the month of February as the auctions will start at the Prado Museum, with works by great painters and sculptors like Juan Uslé, Alfonso Martín-Yebra, Gabino Amaya Cacho, Rafa Macarrón, Guillermo Pérez Villalta, etc.